BEAMING WITH GRATITUDE: Sunbeam celebrates ‘wonderful’ new dental space

Sunbeam Community & Developmental Services CEO Brian Swainson wouldn’t claim to have all the answers, but he was sure of one thing.

“We stood back and thought, ‘This little one-room dental clinic on the second floor of our main building, it’s just not cutting it,’” Swainson recalled of considering the centre’s dental clinic on Kingsway Drive in Kitchener that sat empty as the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns had gone into effect.

Fast-forward a few years and today Swainson said he‘s happy for every opportunity he gets to show and tour Sunbeam’s new state-of-the-art dental clinic, which reopened in the spring of 2022.

The dental clinic, branded as My Dental Clinic, came to fruition through an investment of $250,000 that included fundraising at the grassroots and corporate levels. A significant financial contribution came from the GreenShield Cares Community Impact Fund, held at Waterloo Region Community Foundation (WRCF).

“It’s an absolutely wonderful space, thoughtfully designed to consider the unique needs of the people we support,” Swainson said.

“Every dollar raised was needed to get the state-of-the-art equipment,” he added. “With all of our clients having unique and often complex needs, it is important to offer an extremely adaptable dental treatment chair and adding a ceiling lift to our new dental clinic was essential.”

While the former dental space had become outdated and was lacking in functionality, the new clinic’s design takes into consideration the complex and evolving needs of individuals living with developmental disabilities, some of whom also have significant physical challenges.

The accessible, ground floor clinic consists of two treatment rooms and features a ceiling lift to safely transport individuals from wheelchairs and into a “state-of-the-art” dentist chair, as well as an X-ray machine. There are also calming murals on the wall. The dentist can be working in one treatment space while the full-time dental hygienist works in the other.

Sunbeam’s My Dental Clinic is open five days a week, offering regular cleanings, checkups, education / information and treatments.

“We took a lot of time during the pandemic to thoughtfully design and construct the new clinic on the ground floor of our building,” Swainson said. “My Dental Clinic has wide doorways and large treatment areas – accessibility is key. The various design features came through a lot of brainstorming early in the pandemic to say, ‘If we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it right.’”

In addition to accessibility features, it is the overall environmental and sensory features, as well as the treatment approach that ensures a supportive experience for the many clients who make use of this critical service.   “We work with the needs of our clients, at a pace that is comfortable for them,” Swainson said.

“Sunbeam supports individuals of all ages, and their families across Waterloo, Wellington, Dufferin, Halton and Peel.  Across Sunbeam’s 26 group home and respite locations alone, we support individuals living with developmental disabilities, many of whom also have medically complex support needs,” he said. 

The word is getting out about Sunbeam’s upgraded and expanded specialized dental program, which has opened more broadly to the local community. My Dental Clinic shares space with Sunbeam’s Seating and Mobility Clinic so that people from across the region and beyond regularly make the drive with their family or support workers to attend either clinic or often both.

Sunbeam’s My Dental Clinic was recently approached by Waterloo Region Public Health to assist seniors having specific mobility and accessibility needs and that’s symbolic of the kind of community approach Swainson hopes to continue to foster at Sunbeam through the dental program and beyond.

“Certainly, when we receive requests from individuals or families needing support, when we can say yes, we find a way to say yes,” he said.

“Any time we do tours of our main Kitchener campus -- and every once in a while representatives from (the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services), our government funder, will come -- we always make sure they visit our dental clinic space,” he said. Visitors to My Dental Clinic are impressed with Sunbeam’s specialized dental program because most communities across the province don’t have anything like this.

“Quite regularly I’ll get calls from other organizations across the province saying, ‘I’ve heard you’ve got this dental clinic. How did you do it?’ That’s always the question. ‘How did you make it happen?’ The answer is a lot of creativity and a lot of dedication to finding a way to put all the pieces together. Once you have it you can’t imagine not having it.”

If you would like to learn more about Sunbeam and the services they offer, visit their website at sunbeamcommunity.ca.

If you would like to join GreenShield and WRCF in supporting Sunbeam’s oral health programming, visit their website at sunbeamcommunity.ca/donate.